Mexico under martial law March 7th, 2009

March 7th, 2009 in Breaking News, Martial Law

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico under martial law

Mexican border city braces for troop patrols.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – The mayor of the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez told residents Friday to prepare for a monthslong presence of army troops, but said the arrival of thousands of soldiers had already reduced killings by almost 90 percent.

The city government is issuing advice for citizens on how to get along with more than 5,000 soldiers who will be in Ciudad Juarez for months. Thousands of those troops arrived over the weekend, part of a promised government surge.

“The first thing you should do is to slow down, turn on your interior lights and roll down the windows,” said Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

Reyes Ferriz said “we are working with the public to prepare them, so that they know who how to get through the army checkpoints rapidly and interfere with this law enforcement activity as little as possible.” He said the government would get the message out through radio and TV ads.

While formal army patrols aren’t set to begin until next week, Reyes Ferriz said the army’s presence already has reduced killings.

“In February we had an average of 10 homicides per day, and since the army announcement and its presence in Ciudad Juarez, the homicide rate went down to around one, or a little more than one, on average, per day,” he said.

Reyes Ferriz said he could not say exactly how long the soldiers were expected to stay, but said that “it’s going to be months. We didn’t know how many, but it will be months.”

Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, has been one of the centers of bloody drug gang turf wars that killed 6,290 people across Mexico in 2008.

Reyes Ferriz said the deployment is raising questions but in general has been well-received.

City resident Lauro Pasillas summed up some of those feeling while waiting at Ciudad Jaurez stoplight.

“If they’re really going to do something, then I’m for letting them patrol the entire city,” Pasillas said.

Notice how this was done under the guise of a humanitarian effort?
March 7th, 2009 in Breaking News, Martial Law

“How is freedom measured, in individuals as in nations? By the resistance which has to be overcome, by the effort it costs to stay aloft. One would have to seek the highest type of free man where the greatest resistance is constantly being overcome: five steps from tyranny, near the threshold of the danger of servitude.”